Interview with Young Adult Fiction Writer Paula Rawsthorne

Sheffield Hallan University Creative Writing student, Lauren Wright, recently interviewed multi-award-winning young adult fiction writer Paula Rawsthorne about all things fiction. Paula chatted with Lauren about everything from how she found her way into becoming a writer, and what it’s been like working with publishers, to how she develops her ideas and what advice she has for young writers starting out.

Lauren Wright is a 21-year-old student studying MA Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University. She writes from a variety of genres but tends to sway toward the obscure, alternative perspective and twisted stylised stories. She often writes short stories with a focus on dialogue and character perspective. If you want to read more check out her blog at http://moonshadowbooker.co.uk/

Paula Rawsthorne is a multi-award-winning writer of Young Adult fiction. She discovered that she could write when she won a national BBC writing competition and her comic tale, The Sermon on the Mount was read by Bill Nighy on Radio 4. Her dark stories for adults have been published in anthologies of contemporary literature. Her first YA novel, The Truth about Celia Frost, was a winner of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Undiscovered Voices. Published by Usborne, it was shortlisted for eleven literary awards and won the Leeds, Sefton and Nottingham Book Awards.  Her second novel, Blood Tracks, won the Rib Valley Book Award.

Paula’s short stories for teenagers have been commissioned by Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature and published in an anthology of award-winning Young Adult authors. Paula’s third YA novel, Shell, (Scholastic 2018) won the North East Teen Book Award, The Derbyshire Schools’ Book Award and The Hampshire Book Award.  Her latest Black Mirror-esque YA novel, The New Boy, was published last year.

Find out more about Paula and her books: www.paularawsthorne.wordpress.com or on Twitter @paularawsthorne